Power-driven lawn-mower.



H. S. MUSTIN.

POWER DRIVEN LAWN MOWER.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 16, 1911.

Patented J an. 16, 1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

H. S. MUSTIN.

POWER DRIVEN LAWN MOWER.

APPLICATION FILED PEB.16, 1911.

1,014,663, Patented Jan. 16,1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

UNITED- STATES PATIENT OFFICE.

HERBERT S. MUSTIN, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOB TO THE AUSTIN MANUFAC- TUBING COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION 01 ILLINOIS.

POWER-DRIVEN Lawn-mowrm.

Specification'of Letters Patent.

Patented Jan. 16,1912.

Application filed February 16, 1911. Serial No. 608,970.

My invention relates to power drivenlawn mowers, and involves several linpoiitant.,feaop tures of. construction, arrangement an oration.

My invention concerns .partlcularly that class of power driven lawn mowers 1n whlch the vehicle frame supports the drivin engine and with the front part of whic the mower or cutting frame is associated.

In prior machines of this class the mowing or cutting frameis connected with the vehicle to be pushed along, and this mode of propulsion has many disadvantages. The mowing or cutting frame is usually supported at its front en on casters and at its rear end by a guard roller, and the push connection extends from the frame rearwardly to the vehicle body so that when the casters encounter a1! obstruction they will have a tendency to dig or burrow into the earth owing to such push connection.

One of the salient objects of my inventlon is toeliminate such push connection and to provide a pull connection between the vehicle part and the mower frame, the mower frame remaining at the front end of the vehicle, and the object is further, to increase the efficiency of this ull connection by providin for an upward vertical force component for the pull mechanism, which component is effective and which operates to relieve the casters and guard roller from the entire weight of the mower frame, and particularly to aid the casters in surmounting obstacles and to prevent digging thereo into the ground, the arrangement being such that the vertlcal component increases as the caster end of the mower frame descends. This arrangement eliminates a great part of the strains -on the mower part due to uneven ground.

Another salient object of my invention is to associatewith the pull arrangement such connection of the pull mechanism with the mower frame and with the vehicle body as will assure to the mowerwframe the greatest freedom of movement independent of the.

vehicle frame so that it can followthe ground without undue strains.

Another salient object of my invention is ,i to combine with the pull propulsion mechanism a rotary cutting frame on which the. wipers or knives are set at angles with radii.

of the rotary frame, so thatw en the blades approach the ground they are substantially vertical. Wit this arran ement any obstructions will be struck e ge foremost by- I the blades instead of by the sides of the. As the.

blades, as in prior constructions. mower frame has the free bodily movement above referred to, such striking of obstructions by the blades will tend to raise the mower frame over the obstructions, this being aided by the upward component referred to.

My invention also includes improved adjusting mechanism for the mower frame by means of which it may be bodily raised and adjusted vertically, the connection between the mower frame and the adjusting mechanism being such as not to interfere with the free bodily movement of the mower frame during cutting operations. The connection between the vehicle engine an the mower frame is flexible so as not to impede the free movement of the mower frame.

All the various features of m invention are brought out more clearly in etail in the following specification and illustrated on the accompanying drawings, in which draw- 1ngs- Figure 1 is an-elevation view of a mowing machlne with parts broken away to more clearly illustrate the construction and op.- eration, Fig. 2 is a plan view of the machine with parts broken away to more clearly illustrate the construction and operation, and Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view for illustrating the effect of the vertical component re-' ferred to.

The vehicle frame may be of any suitable construction, and is shown as comprisin side beams 1 and 2, a front cross beam 3, an

driving a floor 4, the frame being mounted on a main roller 5 and a steerin roller 6. On the frame is also mounte a supporting structure carrying a seat '8, and a suitable .driving engine 9 is conveniently mounted under the seat. The mower frame on screws 20 and being adjustable by means.

of set screws 21 passing through the heel 22 of the cutter bar and engaging'with the rear upper edge of the lmife bar, the point 23 of the knife bar cooperating with the blades 17 to form the cutting line. The rear lower corners of the side'frames ivot the guard roller 24. The front ends -0 the side plates expand to form bearing collars 25 for journaling the stems 26 of caster frames 27 which pivot casters 28. Extending forwardly and downwardly from the front of the vehicle frame at the sides thereof are the pull arms 29 and 30, and connecting betweenthe ends of these arms and the side plates 10 and 11 are the pull links 31 and 32, the pivots 33' and 34 allowing free vertical swing of the links. The pivot connections 33 and 34 of the links with the side plates are below the plane passing through the pivot centers of the guard roller and the pivots 33 and 34, so that besides having a horizontal component p at the pivots 33, 34 we have also a vertlcal upward component u (Fig. 3). With this arrangement, when the machine travels, the upward component relieves the casters of a considerable part of the weight of the mower frame, and the mower frame will travel more uniformly over uneven ground, the casters skimming over the lesser bumps and irregularities. If larger abrupt rises or ridges, such as b are encountered, the upward component will assist the casters in mounting them. With prior machines which have the push connection between the mowerframe and the vehicle this would not be the case, and the casters would dig into the obstruction, and the cutting parts of the mower would then encounter and dig into the obstruction to the detriment of these cutting parts. F urthermore, this digging in of the casters and the cutting parts adds to the propulsion power required. In my arrangement the vertical component together with the pull of the mower frame enables the machine to be operated more uniformly and saves the cutting parts and prevents marri'ng of the lawn. Should the caster wheels encounter a depression 01, (Fig. 3) such as a wagon rut, they will tend to drop therein, and if the casters should drop, the upward component u is immediately increased, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 3, the result being that the mower frame is irmnediately lifted toward normal position and the casters are guided smoothly over the obstruction withframe will travel more uniformly in the general direction of the ground independentlyof suddenbumps or depressions, and the ground will not be du up by the casters and the cutting parts, t e smoothing out and leveling of the obstructions being ac-' complished by the heavy rollers 5 and 6 supporting the vehicle.; a

The rotary cutting frame should be connected with the engine 9 by transmission mechanism which is sufiiciently flexible to allow the mower frame to adjust itself freely to the ound. A preferred transmission mechanism is that disclosed in my copending application, Serial No. 532,202, filed December 9th, 1909.

As shown, the ,shaft 15 of the cuttin structure terminates in a bevel gear 35 which meshes with bevel pinion 36 secured to the lower end of shaft 37, whose upper polygonal end 37 .is slidable through a bevel gear 38 which meshes with the bevel pinion 39 secured to the'engine shaft, the shaft 3'1 beingthus free to slide through the gear 38 but at all times being rotated by saideflicient driving connection between the en-' gine and rotating cutter frame under all conditions, and at the same time allows the mower frame to adjust itself freely to the ground.

From the description thus far it will be seen that the mower frame is free to rock and to adjust itself longitudinally independently of the vehicle body. Provision must also be made for allowing the mower frame to rock and adjust itself in a transverse direction to follow the ground. For this urpose both pull links 31 and 32 may ave lost motion connection with the mower frame side plates, but preferably this lost motion is provided only for the link 32 connecting with the mower frame opposite the drive end thereof.

Provision must also be made for raising the mower frame when obstructions are encountered over which the mower frame could not pass. A shaft 44 extends transversely across the vehicle body and is journaled in theside beams 1 and 2 thereof above the mower frame, the ends of the shaft carrying lift arms 45 and 46 havingpins 47 and 48 at their ends pivotally receiving the upper ends of 5 links 49 and 50 whose lower ends pivot to the with the ends of a grip 57 pivoted adja-'v cent the upper end of lever 52 in such manner that when swung toward the lever the pawl will be rotated into engagement with the ratchet wheel. A detent pawl 58 which may conveniently be pivoted to the side beam 1 is held to the ratchet wheel b a position. Thus, when an obstruction is encountered which the mower frame can not surmount the mower frame can be quickly raised until the obstruction is passed, whereupon release of the lever and depression of the footpin allow the mower frame to drop back to normal position. In order that the perfect freedom of movement of the mower frame under operating conditions is not im-' paired, the pins 47 and 48 on the lift arms engage in slots 62 in the links 49 and 50. Thisslot and pin connection allows the mower frame to move and adjust itself independent-1y of the lifting mechanism, but at the same time, when an unsurmountable obstruction or obstacle is encountered the mower frame can be quickly raised.

I find that angularly set blades on the r0- tary cutter frame are particularly advantageous in my construct-ion in combination with the pull arrangement. Obstacles 0 such as sticks, stones, or the like are frequently encountered, and if the blades are set in radial planes these obstacles will be.

struck by the flatside'of the blades and will be carried or scooped against the cutter bar blade with harmful results. By setting the blades at angles to radii of the rotary cutter frame'these obstacles will be struck by the blades when the blades are substantially in a vertical plane, and the mower frame being suspended to move bodily freely in vertical direction will be lifted upon such engagement of the bladeswith the obstacle, the re sult being that the cutting parts are carried over the obstacle and Wlll not be injured. The pull component is particularly effective in assisting such upward bodily movement of the mower frame.

I, therefore, produce a mowing machine of the classdescribed, in which the mower frame is adapted to follow efficiently the general direction of the ground and which 1s assisted by the propulsion mechanism to overcome obstacles without injury to the cut-- ting parts or marring of the ground.

I do not desire to be limited tothe precise'con'struction, arrangement and operation which I have disclosed, as changes and modifications are possible which would still come Within the scope of my invention, and I, therefore, desire to secure the followin claims by Letters Patent: I

.1. In a power driven lawn mowing-machine, the combination of the machine body and a driving engine mounted thereon, a cutting structure below said body comprising side frames and a rotary cutting frame journaled thereon, transmission mechanism between said engine and rotary cutting frame, brackets extending forwardly and downwardly from the machine body in advance of the cutting frame, links pivoted to the lower ends of said brackets and to thefront ends of the side frames of the cutting structure, said cutting structure being normally supported entirely on the ground and said links serving, when the machine is driven, to pull the cutting structure forwardly and at the same timeto exert upward lift on the front ends of the cutting structure to prevent the front end thereof from dropping, due to uneven ground and thereby preventing the cutting frame from digging into the ground.

2.3111 a power driven lawn mowing machine, the combination of the machine body and a driving engine mounted thereon, a

cutting structure comprising side framesv =engine and rotary cutting frame, and pull links having pivotal connection with said cut-tmg structure and having pivotal connection with said machine body in advance of said cutting structure, said pull links exerting both forward pull and upward .lift on the cutting structure when the machine is 1n operation.

3. In a power driven mowing machine, the combination of the machine-body and a driving engine mounted thereon, a cutting structure below the machine body and comprising side plates and a rotary cutting frame journaled thereon, supporting casters journaled to the front end of said cutting structure, a guard roller at the rear end of said cutting structure, said casters and guard roller supporting the cutting structure on: the ground, pull links pivoted to the machine body and having pivotal connection with the cutting structure in advance of the 4: v 4 1,o14,ees

vertical plane passing through the center of I sion mechanism connecting said engine with gravity of the cutting structure, the pivthe rotary cutting frame. otal connect-ion of the pull links with the In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe cutting structure being below the plane passmy name this 13th day of February, A. D., 5 ing through the guard il'ollelr 211x15 an}? tile 1911.

ivotal connection of tie in s wit t e iimchine body whereby upon forward move- HERBERT MU STIN' mentof the machine the cutting structure Witnesses: -\\'ill be ulled along the ground and upward CHARLES J. SCHMIDT, 10 lifting orce exertedthereon, and transmis-- NELLIE B. DEARBORN. c 

